The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com
Prompt: #9
Pen Name: RockRaven244
Pairing/Character(s): Edward/Bella
Rating:T
Word Count: 494
Photo prompts can be found here:
thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

We take a deep breath and step into the living room.

Our parents are already sitting down, having coffee and chatting.

It's now or never.

Edward looks down at me with a smile and kisses the top of my head.

"We'll be okay."

I nod, straighten my shoulders and pull him toward the couch.

We sit and Edward twists his fingers with mine.

Our parents stop talking and look over at us, their smiles dimming a little bit.

"We, uhm ..." I swallow and look at Edward. He gives my fingers a squeeze. "We have something we'd like to talk to you about."

Coffee cups are placed on the table and our parents' faces turn wary.

"What's up?" Mr. Cullen asks.

"Isabella?" My mother says, quietly.

I take a deep breath and rub my free hand over my jeans.

"Mom, Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, Edward and I have some news," I look up at him and he winks at me.

When I turn back toward my parents, my Dad's face is red.

"So ... yeah. Edward and I have some news." God, why can't I just say it. They are going to be so mad.

"Okay, I'm just going to throw it out there. We, Edward and I, have decided we're going to attend Stanford in the fall."

Everyone is quiet. Our mothers look relieved but our dads ... not so much.

"Stanford?" Mr. Cullen asks, eyebrows raised.

I nod.

"What happened to USC, Bella?" My dad is leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

"Edward, I thought we agreed on UCLA." Mr. Cullen's knee is bouncing up and down.

"Dad ... Stanford is a good school and Bella and I were both accepted. We've done all of the research ..."

"I don't care about your research. UCLA is a family tradition, Edward," Mr. Cullen jumps up from his chair.

"I know ..." he starts, but my Dad cuts him off.

"USC was our plan, Bella. Our family tradition," he gives Mr. Cullen the stink eye, also standing.

"Charlie, UCLA is ranked higher academically than USC. The obvious choice for their education is UCLA."

My Dad laughs ... and here we go.

My Dad and Mr. Cullen are now face to face discussing why their school is the best.

Edward and I quietly get up and walk out of the room, through the kitchen, and out the back door.

We both take a deep breath of fresh air and start walking down the path toward the lake.

"That wasn't so bad," Edward says. "Good choice on you breaking the news. Charlie would have flipped out if he thought I was making the decision for you."

"Yeah," I smile, and then turn so that I'm walking backwards, facing him. "How do you think they're going to react when you tell them we want to get an apartment together?"

He laughs and takes both of my hands in his.

"Let's leave that one alone for a while," he says. "A long, long while."

a/n: It's football season - all of the talk about college rivals gave me this idea. I hope you like it.